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Despite the flaunting settings of the late scenic designer Leon Nicolaievich Bakst, the audience kept its eyes upon d'Annunzio and off the stage. Mindful of the warnings of their priests, they listened to the Debussy score as little as possible and almost completely ignored the singers, among whom was Madame Ida Rubinstein of Paris. Only when an opportunity to cheer d'Annunzio occurred, did the audience seem in the least at ease. It rose time and again to acclaim...
...Life," said Leon Bakst, "is long, and Art is play. Painting can be good only when it has been great fun in the doing...
...Holy Mary, in peasant costume, her face twisted with anguish, weeping over the naked body of her peasant son. The authorities condemned the painting. Should peasants mourn their woes where privilege looked on? They displayed it in public with brands of white chalk smeared over its surface. Furious, Painter Bakst renounced the Court, left Russia with his wife, who had been Mlle. Tretiakov, daughter of a former Mayor of Moscow...
...Bakst liked the costumes of the American Indians. Striking color values he saw in them, grand material for a U.S. ballet. He confided his ambition to design such a ballet to Morris Gest, producer; also discussed plans by which he was to design scenery and costumes for a new play by D'Annunzio, Italian poet, starring Ida Rubenstein, famed dancer, staged by Max Reinhardt, produced by Gest. "Those five names are five aces," said Mr. Bakst, "better than any poker hand." Bakst's most renowned sets were those he designed for the Chauve Souris, Boris Godunov...
Died. Leon Bakst, 58, famed Russian painter and stage-designer; in Paris, after a long illness. (See Page...